Holiday Shopping: Worry, Be Happy

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Make sure this holiday
season is a happy one by making sure you're not bringing the wrong gift home.
New evidence comes out daily. Whether it's stories about tainted pet food,
toxic toys from China, or dangerous ingredients in your cosmetics: the
consequences of lax consumer product safety policies are a hot topic this
holiday season. But don't despair. It's easy to protect your family.
Mark Schapiro, sometime PBS Frontline Correspondent and author of Exposed:
The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American
Power (Chelsea Green Publishing) says it's all about information. We need more
of it.
For instance, did you know it's not illegal for toys to contain plastic
softeners called phthalates-which much of the world has already banned because
of their disruption to boys sexual development? Or, how many other highly
toxic compounds lurk in the everyday products your family uses? The government
does not check these products. Anything goes.
"The focus on the health effects of products exported by China," comments
Schapiro, "has obscured the responsibility of the importer-us. From poison in
pet foods to lead in children's toys, many potentially toxic substances are
knowingly imported into the United States. And, no independent government
entity is checking those products before they hit store shelves."
Meanwhile, the European Union is forcing global toy, cosmetic,
electronics, and other producers to chart a new path that, by requiring safe
products, is revamping how businesses can create safe products and make money.
Many other countries are following the EU's lead, which will leave the United
States alone in its refusal to adopt protective health standards for the
products we use daily.
Schapiro's revelations in this thought-provoking work will change the way
American consumers think about everyday products-from the plastic softeners
(phthalates) that can contribute to sexual malformations to cosmetic
ingredients that are potential contributors to cancer, genetic mutation, and
damage to the reproductive system.
Exposed is a revealing and fascinating look at global markets, everyday
products, and the toxic chemicals that bind them. It will shock, inform, and
warn American businesses and government leaders about the risks of being left
behind in the international marketplace.
SOURCE Chelsea Green Publishing

Beau Friedlander of Chelsea Green Publishing, +1-718-576-2573